Search results

(1 - 2 of 2)

Title: Old first high school house - Juniper street, Penn Square
Description: View showing the first building of the Old Central High School for Boys, the first public high school in the city, built 1837-1838 on Juniper Street between Market and Chestnut streets. Building contained an astronomical observatory tower. Razed in 1853., Title, date, and photographer from accompanying manuscript note by collector., Originally part of a series of eleven scrapbooks compiled by Philadelphia antiquarian Charles A. Poulson in the late 1850s entitled "Illustrations of Philadelphia" volume 5, page 59. The scrapbooks contained approximately 120 photographs by Philadelphia painter and pioneer photographer Richards of 18th-century public, commercial, and residential buildings in the city of Philadelphia commissioned by Poulson to document the vanishing architectural landscape., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., See Poulson's scrapbook, vol. 5, p. 13., Reproduced in The Print and Photograph Department of the Library Company of Philadelphia's Center City Philadelphia in the 19th century (Portsmouth, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), p. 101., Arcadia caption text: On October 21, 1838, Philadelphia’s first four-year public school opened with an enrollment of 89 boys. Central High School, located on Juniper Street between Market and Chestnut streets, offered superior courses taught by respected faculty. This photograph was taken in 1853, the year the school sold the site to the Pennsylvania Railroad and began construction of a larger school. The observatory tower visible in the background reportedly had better telescopes than Harvard University.
Creator: Richards, F. De B. (Frederick De Bourg), photographer
Date: [photographed ca. 1853, printed January 1854]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Richards - Education [(5)2526.F.59]

Title: The Central High School of Philadelphia, the controllers of the public schools of the first school district of Pennsylvania, by authority of the Commonwealth granted April 9th, 1849, have this day conferred the degree of Master of Arts
Description: Diploma from Central High School of Philadelphia completed to William Stephens for Master of Arts, Feb. 10, 1853 and depicting three vignettes at the top. In the left, shows an allegorical scene with a white woman, attired in a laurel crown, sketching on a pad; an older, white man seated and holding calipers; and three young, white boys looking through a telescope, moving a globe, and sketching or writing on a pad. In the center, shows an exterior view of Central High School at Juniper Street. In the foreground, a white man sits beneath a tree and sketches a statue of Liberty holding a cap and pole. A paint palette and brushes are beside him. Pedestrians walk on the sidewalk in front of the school. In the right, depicts the coat of arms of Pennsylvania with two horses flanking a crest and an eagle at the top. Central High School was founded in 1836. In 1838, the school building opened at Juniper below Market Street., Title and date from item., Text written on recto: Upon [William Stephens] a graduate of the class of [July 1845] of the Central High School of Philadelphia in consideration of his maintaining an unblemished reputation and of his continued devotion to liberal pursuits since the time of his graduation. In testimony whereof this Diploma has been granted duly by the corporate seal of the Controllers and by the signatures of the President and other officers of the Board and of the Principal and Professors of the School Date Philadelphia [Feb 10th] 18[53]., Signed and witnessed by several individuals, including: D.S Beideman, President; N. Nathans, T.G. Hollingsworth, Harlan Ingram, T.K. Collins, Committee of Controllers; R.J. Hemphill, Secretary; John S. Hart, LLD, Principal; and thirteen professors., Accompanied by a ribbon embossed with the seal of the Controllers of the Public Schools of the First School District [of Philadelphia]., Gift of David Doret.
Date: [ca. 1850]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **Doret and Mitchell Collection – Prints [P.2022.62.3.47]

Main menu